According to Austin Energy’s outage map, about 4,000 customers in East Austin were still without power as of just before 9 p.m. Wednesday.
That’s about 3,000 fewer than the 7,000 affected by the outage just before 5 p.m. According to the outage map, the agency hopes to have power restored by 10 p.m.
Matt Mitchell, spokesman for Austin Energy, said two cooling centers in the borough, namely the Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center and the Pan Am Recreation Center, will be open until 11 p.m. for those who need them. Information on the locations of the cooling centers in the city can be found here.
According to a 7:54 p.m. post on X by Austin Energy’s municipal utility, crews are working to determine the cause of the East Austin power outage. The problem is local, not a statewide grid issue. The statewide power grid is operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
“We are working to find the cause of the problem and restore power to as many customers as possible as quickly as possible,” the energy supplier said in a press release.
The power outages began shortly before 5 p.m., when temperatures in the neighborhood reached the highest levels of the year at 41.6 degrees.
The expected return time was initially stated as 6:30 p.m., but for many customers this has since been pushed back.
The areas most affected are east of Interstate 35 and west of Airport Boulevard, south to South Lakeshore Boulevard and north to East 11th Street.
This is a developing story, please check back later for updates.
